How To Save A Life - Chapter Nine
Title: How To Save A Life
Chapter: 9/?
Pairing: Miley/Demi
Rating: R (Mature Content - Not Graphic)
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these people. Did this happen in real life? Well, is Miley immortal and over 100 years old? Didn’t think so.
Word Count: 3,058
Summary: Demi is a carefree saloon girl whose dreams never included anyone but herself. She didn’t think she would ever love somebody else until she met a strong-willed and reserved cattle rancher who seemed to only live for her family.
Author's Note: This is an AU story that takes place in the 19th Century American Old West. Just a crazy idea I had one day. Although, if you’ve read any of my other stories you know that pretty much all of them are rather… unusual.
Previously…
Suddenly the front door slammed open, scaring both Demi and the dog, which quickly stuck a tail between its legs and became silent.
“Shut up, you stupid mutt!” Trace yelled as he stepped outside. Demi could still see a couple of healing bruises on his face. Her blood ran cold as Trace turned to see what the dog was looking at.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I-I…” Demi stuttered, failing to conceal her nervousness.
“Don’t tell me you changed your mind,” Trace said with a smirk. “Oh, this is going to be good.”
“I-I already told you I would never sleep with you,” the girl said, trying her best not to sound scared. “I’m here to see your sister.”
“Well, well… Isn’t she lucky?” The way he said it made Demi’s stomach churn. “Too bad she’s not here. Well, bad for her, good for me.” He took a step forward.
“Don’t come any closer!” Demi warned, but the unmistakable fear in her voice took away the impact of the order.
Trace laughed maliciously and Demi took a step back, her hands ready to untie Shane, when a loud crash came from inside the house. A child’s cry followed soon after.
“What the fuck did she do now?!” Trace grunted and walked inside the house.
Demi was torn on what to do. Her first instinct was to mount her horse and get the hell away from that place, but she felt for the child crying inside. ‘What if she’s hurt?’ she thought.
“Noah, shut the fuck up!” Trace yelled inside and the crying got louder.
Against all the warnings the rational part of her brain was giving her, Demi made her way to the front door. Just as she was about to enter, Trace dashed out the door. “Get out of my way!” he said and shoved her to side, causing the saloon girl to fall to the floor. “I can’t deal with this shit anymore,” he mumbled as he put on his black hat and made his way to the stable.
‘Is he just gonna leave her here alone?’ Demi thought incredulous as she watched him rush out of the stable on his black stallion and exit the ranch, leaving nothing but a trail of dust behind. She was still on the floor, dumbfounded.
A moment later, Demi heard Noah’s crying again. She quickly got up and went inside the house, closing the door after her.
The inside of the house was very homey. There were knickknacks everywhere and the entire place had a country feeling to it, from the horse figurines to the wild flowers arrangements. She could tell the crying was coming from the left side of the house, so she hastily made her way to that area.
Demi entered the kitchen to find the girl weeping on the floor. A fallen chair sat next to her.
“Noah?” Demi tried to sound as soft and comforting as possible.
Noah was surprised by the voice and her body visibly stiffened. She quickly turned to look at the stranger and once she saw the saloon girl, she seemed to relax a little. “You’re the lady from church,” the girl said amidst sniffles after eyeing Demi for a while.
Demi nodded and smiled. “I heard you crying. Are you okay?”
“I fell down the chair when I was trying to reach the top shelf,” she said pointing to the open cupboard in question. “I hurt my arm,” she sniffled again.
“Can I see it?” Demi asked kneeling down beside the girl. Noah nodded and showed her the arm. It had a couple of bleeding scrapes on it. “I think we need to clean that. Do you know where your sister keeps the bandages and ointments?”
“In a cabinet in my parent’s room,” Noah said, cradling her bleeding arm. “It’s upstairs. Last door.”
Demi stood up and then helped the young girl up. “Does your sister keep water inside?”
“Uh-huh. There’s a full water jug and a washbowl in all our bedrooms.”
“Soap?”
“Bathroom. It’s that way,” Noah pointed in the direction of the foyer. “Just past the staircase.”
“Okay, wait for me in the living room, honey. I’ll be right back,” Demi said as she started to make her way to the stairs.
As she walked through the foyer she saw a couple of family portraits hanging on the walls. One of them caught her attention. It showed Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus and all four children. Miley looked to be about 15 years old, so it must have been one of the last pictures the family took together before the adults passed away. She couldn’t help but notice how happy and carefree Miley looked in that portrait. Walking up the stairs, the saloon girl wondered if she would ever see her smile like that.
Demi had been right, there were four bedrooms upstairs. She walked down the hallway and opened the last door. She gasped as she stepped inside. Demi was expecting to find a half furnished room and boxed things, but the room was untouched. Everything was in its place. The vanity was still cluttered with Mrs. Cyrus’ perfume bottles and Mr. Cyrus’ slippers still sat beside the bed. The one thing that made this room different from any other was the fact that all mirrors were covered with white sheets.
Demi remembered the time one of her mother’s aunts died and when they attended the funeral, all the mirrors in her house were covered. Dallas had explained that people did that so the deceased’s soul wouldn’t get trapped inside a mirror and would be able to ascend to heaven. Young Demetria didn’t look into mirrors for days after that.
The saloon girl quickly grabbed the basket full of bandages and ointments inside the cabinet and left the room.
A couple minutes later, she entered the living room juggling a washbowl and the basket in one hand and the war jug and a cloth in the other. Noah was sitting on the couch waiting for her.
Demi placed the things on the coffee table and sat beside the teary girl. She placed the cloth and washbowl on her lap.
“I need to clean your injuries, so this might hurt a little bit, okay?” she said softly.
Noah nodded and let the older girl take her arm. Demi held the arm above the washbowl with one hand and used the other one to reach for the jug and cautiously pour some water on it. The young girl flinched as the cold water touched her skin. “Sorry,” said Demi sympathetically.
“It’s okay. I’m a big girl,” Noah said, trying to sound brave.
Demi smiled and started to wipe the dried blood with the cloth. Once the blood was all gone, she wet the soap and rubbed it on the piece of fabric. “Ready?”
Noah took a deep breath and nodded. Demi ever so carefully started to clean the scrapes on the girl’s forearm. She remembered how much it stings from the days her mother would tend to her cuts and scrapes.
“So you have two brothers and one sister, right?” Demi asked, trying to distract the girl from the pain.
“Uh-huh. Trace, Braison and Miley,” Noah answered, still squeezing her eyes shut as Demi cleaned the injury.
“But there are only four bedrooms upstairs.”
“Miley and I share one. Braison is older than me so he got the last spare room. And since I’m a girl, Miley had to share hers.”
“But you guys have one empty bedroom now, don’t you?” she asked curiously as she rubbed the soapy cloth.
“Yeah, but she didn’t want to move in there. I told her she should but she insists on keeping it like that. She still cleans it and changes the sheets, even though no one sleeps in there.”
“Really?” Demi asks, genuinely interested.
“Uh-huh. It sucks because I really wanted the bedroom for myself,” Noah pouted. “Miles doesn’t let me keep my toys all over there room. She always makes me put them away in the toy chest after I play with them.”
Demi chuckled. “So everything is still the same in there?”
“Well, not everything. The mattress is new,” Noah explained. “Trace kinda threw up all over it one night when he came home drunk and entered the wrong room. We had to get rid of that one because it was ruined. Miley was pretty upset.”
‘That dumbass,’ Demi thought.
Once she was done, she rinsed it with more water and then softly blew on it as it dried. “You did very well,” Demi praised the youngest Cyrus as she spread some medicinal ointment on the scrapes and bandaged her arm. “All done!”
“Thank you,” Noah said with a smile.
“Now you just need to be more careful, young lady,” Demi teased. “What were you doing up there anyway?”
“Looking for the strawberry jam,” Noah said examining her new bandage. “Trace was supposed to make me lunch but he didn’t and I was hungry.”
“You could have asked him to reach it for you.”
“I did. He told me to get lost,” Noah shrugged.
“Okay, how about I make you some lunch?” Demi said, trying to cover her disdain for Noah’s oldest brother.
“You can cook?”
“Well, I can make you a strawberry jam sandwich. If you have bread, that is. I can’t bake.” Demi laughed.
“We do! Miley baked it last night. And this way she won’t be mad because you will cut the bread, not me,” Noah said excitedly as she got up. “I’m not allowed to use the big knife. Miley says I’m accident prone.”
“I agree with her,” Demi teased as she followed the girl into the kitchen.
After the young girl finished eating the jam sandwich Demi had made for her, they went outside to take Shane into the stable so he could have some fresh water and rest for a bit, since Demi had promised Noah she would stay until Miley got home.
“Where is she, anyway?” Demi asked as they made their way back to the house.
“She had a meeting with a cattle buyer. He lives in the next town, so she said it’d probably take all day. She’s been gone since dawn,” Noah informed her.
“Okay, then what do you wanna do?”
“I have to finish my math assignment before Miley gets home so we can start a new lesson tomorrow,” the young girl sighed.
“I can help you,” Demi offered.
“Really?” Noah beamed.
“Uh-huh,” Demi smiled as they entered the house and Noah rushed to her room to get her notebook and pencil.
It was already early evening when they heard the sound of hoofs trotting in the distance and the dog barking outside, signaling Miley was home. They were both sitting on the floor in the living room and Demi was teaching Noah how to play poker, using small pebbles as currency.
A couple minutes later, the front door opened.
“Noah, I’m home!” Miley announced as she entered the house. “And I have a surprise for you.”
Noah quickly got up and rushed to greet her sister. She wrapped her arms around the older girl’s waist, almost causing her to drop a small basket she was holding. “What’s in there?” Noah asked once she noticed it.
“I met up with Miss Swift in town and she asked me tell you she misses you very much, and… she sent you a basket full of sugar cookies!” Noah squealed in excitement as she took the basket of baked goods. “So how was your day?”
“Oh,” the young girl said as if she suddenly remembered something. She raised her bandaged arm and showed it to her sister with a pouty face, as if expecting something.
Miley smiled softly and placed a light kiss on top of the bandages. “There,” she said as Noah grinned happily. “Now, how did you hurt yourself?
“Your accident prone little sister fell off a chair and scraped her arm,” Demi said, finally making her presence known. She had been standing on the corner near the living room entrance for a while now, watching the interaction between the two sisters. She couldn’t help but smile at how sweet and motherly Miley acted towards Noah.
“Demi?” Miley said surprised. “What- What are you doing here?”
“She’s been hanging out with me the whole afternoon!” Noah told her sister. “She even helped me with my math assignment. I finished the whole thing! And then I showed her my doll collection and then she taught me how to play poker! I’m pretty good!”
“Did she, now?” Miley smirked at the saloon girl. “And where’s Trace?”
“He left, like always,” Noah mumbled and Miley’s body tensed at her answer.
“Honey, how about you take the cookies to the kitchen and set the table so we can have some with fresh milk?”
“Okay,” the young girl said and left with the basket.
“What happened?” Miley asked Demi once the little one was gone.
“I came by early in the afternoon to see you and heard Noah falling inside the house a couple minutes after I arrived. Trace got pretty annoyed by the crying, yelled at her and left, so I came inside and stayed with her. I couldn’t leave her alone,” Demi explained.
Miley was staring at her in silence for a moment and Demi started to feel uneasy, scared she did something wrong. But the feeling didn’t last long as she suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around her neck, enclosing her in a gentle embrace.
“Thank you so much,” Miley said quietly and Demi felt like she was surrounded by warmth and bliss. The rancher girl let go after a few seconds.
“You don’t have to thank me,” Demi said back, immediately missing the wonderful feeling that was having the other girl so close to her.
“I do,” Miley insisted. “I usually leave her with Braison but he’s away on a cattle drive and I couldn’t take her because it was such a long ride and I couldn’t not go because this was an important meeting and I really thought maybe Trace would come through for us this time but of course he didn’t, and God, what if you hadn’t been here and-”
“Hey, it’s okay. She’s okay. Everything is fine,” Demi interrupted the girl’s rant and placed her hands on Miley’s shoulder, trying to calm her.
“But what if you hadn’t- I knew I shouldn’t have left her with Trace! I would normally ask Taylor to take her when Braison was away, but she moved to another town and Selena has the baby now so I didn’t want to bother her and I really thought Trace would-”
“Miley!” Demi said firmly. “Noah is safe. Nothing happened to her.”
“But Demi, Trace left her here alone! This is the Wild West for Christ’s sake! This desert is crawling with outlaws! It’s not unusual to spot a few riding past the ranch every once in a while. And I wasn’t here to protect her. Anyone could have come in here and-”
“But it didn’t happen. I was here, and I would never let anything bad happen to her, okay?” Demi said softly and used one hand to tenderly cup Miley’s cheek. “Noah is fine, we had fun the whole afternoon, and you kissed her booboo, so everything is good now.”
Miley chuckled weakly.
“Okay?” Demi asked, lovingly tracing the girl’s soft cheek with her thumb.
“Okay,” Miley nodded.
“Why are you guys taking so long?” Noah whined as she walked back inside the foyer.
Demi quickly removed her hand from the rancher girl’s face and looked at the younger Cyrus girl.
“Demi, you have to try Miss Swift’s sugar cookies. They are the best!” Noah said excitedly.
“Miss Swift?” Demi asked Miley.
“Taylor. She was the town’s teacher, but after the schoolhouse burned down she was out of a job and moved to the next town, since they had an open teaching position,” Miley explained. “And Noah is right, her cookies are heavenly.”
“I’d love to stay and have cookies with you but…” Demi looked at the clock. “I’m already two hours late,” she said apologetically.
“Can’t you stay?” the young girl asked hopefully.
“I’m sorry, honey.” Demi apologized.
“Can she come back another day?” Noah asked her sister.
“Of course she can. She is welcome in this house anytime,” Miley said smiling at the saloon girl. “Noah, why don’t you go get Demi some cookies for her trip back while I help her in the stable?”
The young girl nodded and went back inside the kitchen, leaving the two new friends alone again. The girls timidly smiled at each other and then left the house in a comfortable silence.
“I’m sorry about all this,” Miley said as she walked Demi to the stable.
“Don’t be. It was a good day,” Demi said, the darkness doing very little to conceal the smile on her face. “I’m just sorry I didn’t get to spend more time with you. Learning about the bible, I mean!” The saloon girl quickly covered it up.
Miley nodded and kept walking. “So, you taught my little sister how to gamble, huh?” she said with a smirk.
“I-I just…” Demi stuttered. “I’m sorry! I didn’t even… It sounded like a good idea at the time-”
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m just teasin’ ya.” Miley giggled.
Demi nodded and looked down to hide her flushed cheeks as they approached the big old stable.
Not long after that, the saloon girl was riding away into the night on her way back to town.